


Movie Night

by hellshark



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Awkward Crush, M/M, Middle School, Movie Night, Sad Ending, Sleepovers, also takes place before shark got his nickname, and before shark became a bully, starts out as fluff then becomes angst, takes place before the national duel circuit and .... you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 10:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19249066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellshark/pseuds/hellshark
Summary: Ryouga gets invited over to his crush, borderline idol's, home to watch a movie with him. Unknowing to the either of them, these would be the last memories shard between each other before eventually meeting again at the National Duel Circuit. Ryouga is left without his feelings being realized and without a word of why Thomas and his family were gone.





	Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> this is based off of a concept and art by my amazing girlfriend <3

It was the summer of Ryouga going into sixth grade while his “idol” in a sense, the infamous Thomas Arclight, just left eighth grade. The grade difference obviously presented many problems to him and the largest being he had a crush on his upperclassman but he knew the most popular guy in their school would never be caught in a relationship with someone a few grade levels below him. Luckily he had been able to befriend him, despite his status as a rather nerdy kid with an unfriendly demeanor. Thomas overlooked that and was one of the only people who actually reached out to him and made an effort to get to know Ryouga. He often wondered why Thomas had reached out to him and decided to spend time with him outside of school. Maybe it was the mutual interest in the card game Duel Monsters? Ryouga pondered the possibly as he was driving to the aforementioned Thomas’ home for one of their routine sleepovers during the solemn summer months. 

He had offered to watch a movie with Ryouga but he withheld any further information about the subject. Despite his lack of knowledge, Ryouga was excited by the prospect of spending time with the boy who captured his heart. He tapped his foot anxiously as he sat in the front seat of the car as he drove to where Thomas lived. The car ride continued with minimal talking to the driver while the radio played what’s relevant at the moment to Ryouga’s dismay, he had never been a big fan of pop music and always preferred something more alternative which much to his surprise, was a similarity between him and Thomas. Though, Thomas did have a taste for boy bands which Ryouga couldn’t relate to but let him go on about his interest in them and slowly started to have a vast extent of knowledge on the subject from listening to Thomas’ long winded rants about them. 

He finally arrived at the practically mansion the Arclight family took residence in. He waved goodbye to the driver as he hopped out of the car and walked quickly up the stairs that led to one of the tallest wooden doors Ryouga had ever laid eyes on and nervously knocked on the door, taking a few seconds to work up the courage. There was a doorbell to the side, but Ryouga found knocking more appropriate and more his style. The door opened to see Thomas’ eldest brother, Christopher, looking vaguely distressed at the fact someone knocked on their expensive wooden door instead of properly utilizing the doorbell. He sighed as he called out to his younger brother. 

“Thomas! You have company.” Was all he said as he gestured for Ryouga to come inside of the lavish home while he awaited Thomas’ arrival. 

 

“Coming!” Thomas yelled from the upper portion of the home, barely audible due to the distance. In a few seconds, Ryouga saw him running down the stairs to come greet his friend. He was quite energetic which contrasted with Ryouga’s more reserved personality, though, the excitement of the other often brought out more energy from him. 

“Hi!” He cheerfully called out while smiling at his guest. Chris closed the door behind him and wandered off to resume the business he was partaking in before the annoying knock at the door.  
“Hey.” Ryouga replied while following Thomas’ lead upstairs to his bedroom to watch this elusive movie with him. He waved politely at the youngest brother, Mihael, as he sat on the couch in the living room enjoying a tv show who smiled and waved back only to soon return his attention to the cheesy reality show he was currently engrossed in. 

When he reached his destination, Thomas’ bedroom, he noticed his bed to be set up in a way reminiscent of a blanket fort. He chuckled quietly to himself, even someone as cool as Thomas could be childish sometimes. He scanned the room, being vaguely familiar with the layout of the room from the few times he had previously come over. He noticed a large bowl of popcorn sitting on top of the bedside table. He smiled a bit to himself, appreciating the gesture. 

“Well! How do you like the set up? I had Chris help me out, but I think it turned out so great because of me!” He laughed a bit after he finished his sentence, admiring his work on the blanket fort. His words a bit slurred because of the braces present in his mouth. Even as a young teen, Thomas was full of himself, which Ryouga didn’t mind and actually found it intriguing compared to himself. Thomas noticed Ryouga’s eyes change their focus onto the popcorn bowl. “Oh, and, I made some popcorn before you came over! I hope it isn’t cold now…” The excitement present in his voice warmed Ryouga’s heart a bit, only for the disappointment as he trailed off to strike a sense of worry into himself as well. 

“Oh...thank you. That was nice.” Ryouga had difficulty making the words come out correctly from his mouth as “thank you” wasn’t a common phrase for him. He hoped Thomas would be able to detect his sincerity despite his trouble speaking the words. “So, what’s the movie we’re gonna watch?” He asked, hoping he didn’t embarrass himself with the delivery as the excitement of finally being able to know what film Thomas picked out to show him finally hit him. He hoped it wasn’t anything horror, though, as he did find scary movies hard to watch. As much as he hated to admit it, he often had nightmares after watching one. He was sure Thomas had picked out a film he would like though; they did have similar tastes afterall. 

“Hehehehe,” Thomas giggled as he headed over to grab the DVD he had purchased to be able to hold this viewing with Ryouga. “Here it is!” He held out the DVD for Ryouga to see. 

“Jaws…?” He inquired as he studied the cover image. It featured a large blue shark with hues of white with a large mouth full of sharp teeth where held out on display as a woman in a bathing suit was swimming above him, seemingly not knowing what was in the ocean beneath her. His faith in Thomas’ movie choice had left him slightly as the cover art did seem to be implying this shark to be dangerous and possibly man eating. He wondered why Thomas picked out this particular movie, they typically watched dumb comedy movies or nostalgic cartoons when they decided to sit in front of the tv. Maybe he had noticed Ryouga’s interest in sea life, specifically sharks, from all the times they dueled or discussed deck building and strategies. The thought of Thomas remembering that about him made his checks flush, hopefully not to the notice of his crush who happened to be standing right next to him. 

He took a seat on the luxurious bed turned blanket fort that was situated behind him and grabbed the bowl of popcorn from the table and started to start eating the snack, it was still warm which would make Thomas happy, as Thomas turned on his television and inserted the Jaws dvd into the disk player located next to the tv set. Ryouga always envied that Thomas had a tv in his own bedroom. All his brothers, and even father, did which made Ryouga extremely envious and insecure of his own household set up which contrasted to the high tech and lavish design of the Arclight home. 

Thomas sat himself next to Ryouga on the bed, causing his heart to start beating a bit rapidly at the prospect of sitting so close to the one he idolized so much. He extended his hand out to reach for popcorn and ended up lightly touching Ryouga’s hand, which caused him to panic and break out into a total ear to ear blush from the sudden sensation. Luckily, Thomas was so engrossed by the movie and already making comments as the film proceeded on, that he didn’t notice Ryouga’s embarrassed state or even that he made contact with the other’s hand. 

Thomas seemed to really enjoy the movie, much to Ryouga’s happiness. He smiled softly to himself seeing him light up as he talked about a scene that particularly excited him. They had small conversations while watching and it overall seemed a pleasant experience for Ryouga until the scenes with the shark featured on the cover, the infamous “Jaws”, occurred. He knew this was coming due to the first scene of the film showcasing a shark attack, but he didn’t expect it to be this intense. He jumped a bit and ended up clinging onto Thomas’ arm at a few of the particularly scary scenes, which he got a response in the form of light teasing and giggling from the other, which he didn’t mind as he got to get close to him. His heart kept fluttering from both the contact with Thomas and from the slight dread that overtook him from watching the scenes of Jaws brutally attacking and destroying a ship along with the passengers desperately trying to fight and kill him. Ryouga didn’t particularly enjoy these scenes as he was a bit of a coward when it came to scary content, but also because he rather enjoyed sharks and didn’t like the stigma of them being dangerous and violent which this movie only aided. 

The movie was over before they knew it and Ryouga reluctantly removed himself from the grip of Thomas’ arm as the credits were rolling. Small bits and crumbs of popcorn littered themselves about Ryouga’s clothing which he subtly tried to wipe them away, embarrassed Thomas may have seen him with that mess adoring him. 

“What did you think?” Thomas asked with a yawn, as it was quite late now. Ryouga hadn’t noticed but it had turned dark outside which was a deep contrast to the bright, sunny, summer day it was when he arrived. “I liked it. I thought the characters were so badass!” He went on excitedly, eagerly awaiting a response with a smile forming on his lips

“It was alright...I didn’t really like how they portrayed sharks though. I just think they’re really cool and the movie made them all scary…” He rambled on, a bit embarrassed that he was sharing this with Thomas and frightful he would see him as weak or ridiculous for his comment about sharks. He saw a frown replace the smile on Thomas’ face, reassuring his thoughts of his view of him being lowered with the comment. 

“Oh, I thought you’d like it because it had a shark in it! There’s not that many shark films, you know, I wanted to do something special for you.” He went on, revealing the true reason for the frown appearing suddenly. So he had remembered Ryouga’s interest in sharks! This caused his heart to race and his mind go crazy. 

“I’m sorry.” Was all Ryouga could respond with, saddened by the fact he disappointed him. 

“It’s alright, but how about we go to bed now? I need my beauty sleep, after all!” He laughed a bit at his own comment as he removed the popcorn bowl from sitting on his bed to being placed on a nearby cabinet. 

“Yeah, sounds good.” Ryouga responded, not aware of his own tiredness until Thomas had mentioned sleeping. He went to the bathroom to change into pajamas and brush his teeth, as did Thomas, before returning to the bedroom to see Thomas already lying down in the bed on his self proclaimed “side”, which Ryouga didn’t understand why he was so adamant that the left side of the bed was his terrority. Little did he know, being against the wall actually made Thomas feel safer, which he’d never disclose to anyone and would always keep that little fact to himself as he feared being seen as anything but confident and a role model. Ryouga climbed into the bed and pulled the blankets over himself and exchanged goodnights with Thomas. He desperately wished he could be held in Thomas’ arms Unaware to either of them, this was the last time they’d sleep in the same room together or share these fun little moments together. 

Unsurprisingly, Ryouga was plagued with nightmares of giant, teethy creatures trying to consume him or being trapped underwater that night due to the viewing of the film. Thomas did as well, to his own surprise, his nightmares were rather focused on killing a creature but failing to save himself or his acquaintances, which reflected his inner fears and insecurities. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t wake up in a cold sweat at least once that night. 

Thomas was the first one to wake up, glad to be freed from his nightmares, and in a bit of a shaken up state awoke Ryouga so he didn’t have to be alone. Ryouga rubbed his eyes sleepily as he yawned from the forced awakening. He sat up in the bed and enjoyed idle conversation with the other, both neglecting to mention they had nightmares inspired by Jaws. Breakfast had been made so they ventured downstairs to eat then spent the rest of the day doing their routine activities like playing video games or looking up funny videos online, Ryouga was also envious of the fact each Arclight had their own personal laptop, or conversing with each other with the added company of the Arclight brothers and playing truth or dare with all 4 of them. It was always a fun time when Thomas was around, it was the most genuine fun Ryouga had ever had around another person. He cherished these simple moments together. 

Eventually, time for Ryouga to return home had came. He gave Thomas a small hug goodbye, despaired by the fact he hadn’t gotten any closer to telling him about how he felt towards him or the fact he hadn’t made a move. He sighed as he heard the brothers all say their goodbyes to him and the heavy wooden door clang as it was closed behind him. He walked back to the car there to escort him back home without the same pep in his step he had as he was arriving. He told himself it wasn’t the end of the world and he would have a chance to see Thomas again then let him know of all these feelings he held within himself. Except….he never did. The Arclight family had mysteriously disappeared after that last day spent with them. It broke Ryouga’s heart and had been the first thing to make him break down into tears in a very long time. He had all summer to accept this fact and tried his best to move on with his life until school started again and as he suspected, Thomas was nowhere to be found. 

Ryouga had gotten serious about Duel Monsters and chose to join the National Duel Circuit only to see a familiar face. It was Thomas, only know he was famous and referred to himself as “IV”. Instead of being his innocent middle school crush, he had turned into the man who ruined his chances at succeeding through the tournament and the one who hospitalized his sister. All the happy feelings of love and butterflies in his stomach where replaced with feelings of resentment and desire for revenge, the happy memories of their middle school escapades replaced with the memories of humiliation and his sister’s time spent in insufferable pain due to his actions, which he seemed to have no remorse for but paid for with the scar that now placed itself on the left side of his face. Thomas was no longer Thomas the innocent middle school crush Ryouga had, he was “IV”, the one person he despised the most and the one who ruined his and his sister’s life.

**Author's Note:**

> i luv commentz! tysm 4 reading
> 
> sorry if therez any inconsistency errorz, therez not much known about them before what takes place in the show so i kind of inferred for a lot and based a lot off of my personal hcs of what they were like


End file.
